No better comedic bromance this year and one of the best ever.
The Intouchables
Grade: A
Director: Oliver Nakache (Those Happy Days), Eric Toledano (Those Happy Days)
Screenplay: Nakache, Toledano
Cast: Francois Cluzet (Do Not Disturb), Omar Sy (Micmacs)
Rating: R
Runtime: 112 min.
John DeSando, WCBE’s “It’s Movie Time” and “Cinema Classics”“I don’t empty a stranger’s butt.” Driss (Omar Sy)
But he will, and you’ll not see a better comedy this year on either side of the pond than The Intouchables. Or a better treatment of disability, without pity and filled with humanity. Or a better buddy story than quadriplegic Phillipe (Francois Cluzet) and his aide, Driss (Omar Sy).
It’s a bromance without sex, a hands-across-the-social-divide that avoids clichés but still gives anticipated humorous setups a new vigor.
Buried in the joyful surface is the subject of class differences. Driss comes from living with several cousins in a small apartment, may have been a druggie, and avoids work. Phillipe is a wealthy entrepreneur who went too high fulfilling his danger lust. Beyond a small fee Phillipe wrangles from a friend for Driss’s painting, Driss gets no other improvement in his living situation and Phillipe deteriorates while he makes a difficult decision about Driss.
It’s not difficult to see why the film has been seen by over 300 million people so far and just begun to flourish in the US.
John DeSando co-hosts WCBE 90.5’s It's Movie Time and Cinema Classics, which can be heard streaming and on demand at WCBE.org.
He also appears on Fox 28’s Mind of a Man.
Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com